(1) Field of the Invention
The disclosed invention pertains to a fusion or dual comb which contains internal compartments through which a fluent hair product is manually caused to flow and to exit the comb through outlets in the comb teeth into the hair and the scalp of the user. Throughout the specification, the inventive comb is alternatively referred to as a “fusion comb,” a “dual comb.” and a “single comb,” The terms “fusion comb,” “dual comb,” and “single comb” are used interchangeably to refer to a single comb which internally houses two separate combs. “Fusion comb” is a name coined by the inventors for the single comb in its entirety. “Dual comb” refers to the entire single comb, but “dual comb” is a more visual, physical description of the entire single comb. The “dual comb” draws attention to the fact that there are two combs integral within a single body. “Single comb” emphasizes the overall image of the comb as resembling and being recognized as a common, single comb. The two internal combs are referred to as “two combs.” and each internal comb is referred to in the singular as simply a “comb.”
(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
So-called “fountain combs” have been patented for a long time, a group which is well represented by the references of record.
The closest reference, to the inventors' knowledge, is the patent to Charley S. Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,446,398, issued Aug. 3, 1948. Wilson discloses a fountain comb with two pistons for forcing two different liquid hair products through holes between comb teeth into the hair. Wilson differs in a principal respect from the disclosed and claimed invention, inasmuch as both pistons feed into a single comb. Two disparate hair products which should not be mixed cannot avoid coming in contact with each other within Wilson's single comb. A second, major, difference is that the pistons act only partially per stroke, delivering no more than the volume of valve chamber 26 during each stroke. A pair of springs restore the pistons to their starting position after traveling only a minute part of the way of their entire length. The two plungers are no longer effective to force fluid into the single comb once the volume of fluid inside cylinder 35 has been injected, after perhaps three to five depressions of piston head 41. The claimed dual, comb shares neither of these results. One, the two combs are always separate. And, two, almost all of the fluid in a barrel can be ejected therefrom in a sustained motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,409,957, issued Aug. 12, 2008, to Aline Abergel is of passing interest. It is not completely clear how the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6-8 may be transformed from diagrammatic to a fountain comb, but it is irrelevant, inasmuch as when the comb is connected to a plurality of containers of disparate hair products, the passages in the comb body function to mix the products prior to dispensing the products from a single set of comb teeth from a single comb. Applicants disclose and claim two combs in a single comb structure where the two combs are completely separate.
The remaining references merely show the state of the art.
No prior art reference known to the inventors, singly nor in combination with any other prior art reference, provides a single fountain comb which house's two complete, separate, and independent fountain combs. The fusion comb, or dual comb, does.